'Modern Baroque'

‘Modern Baroque’ ‘Approaches and Attitudes to Baroque Music Performance on the Saxophone’ Jonathan Byrnes 4080160 Masters of Music Projecto Cientifico IV ESMAE 2010 1 Contents Page ‘Introduction’ (Prelude) 4 ‘Education’ (Allemande) 7 ‘Performance’ (Courante) 12 ‘Morality – Responsibility and Reasons.’ (Sarabande) 18 ‘Transcription or adaptation’ – note for note transcription (Minuet I) 36 ‘Transcription or adaptation’ – adaptation (Minuet II) 58 Conclusion (Gigue) 70 ‘Bibliography’ 73 ‘Discography’ 77 ‘Internet Resourses’ 78 2 Thank you. This Masters Thesis would not have been possible without the help and assistance from the people below. I would like to thank them sincerely for all their guidence and support. Sofia Lourenço, Henk Van Twillert, Fernando Ramos, Gilberto Bernardes, Madelena Soveral, Dr. Cecília, Filipe Fonseca, Luís Lima, Nicholas Russoniello, Cláudio Dioguardi, Cármen Nieves, Alexander Brito, Donny McKenzie, Andy Harper, Thom Chapman, Alana Blackburn, Paul Leenhouts, Harry White, And of course my family. Without these people, I am sure I would not have achieved this work. 3 1. Introduction (Prelude) Baroque music has been part of the saxophone repertoire in one form or another since the instruments creation, as it so happened to coincide with the Baroque revival. ‘It was Mendelssohn's promotion of the St Matthew Passion in 1829 which marked the first public "revival" of Bach and his music’ 1, either through studies or repertoire the music of the baroque period has had an important role in the development of the majority of all saxophonists today. However the question remains. What function does this music have for a modern instrumentalist and how should this music be used or performed by a saxophonist? Many accolades have been given of saxophone performances of Baroque music. From the Aurelia saxophone quartets extensive reviews of the Art of Fugue ‘Fugue in C of Dog’, to Henk Van Twillerts widely accepted and successful Bach Cello suites on Baritone Saxophone, carrying through to more jazz style interpretations by Quintessence saxophone quintet and The modern jazz quartet. It is not unusual that the ‘transcription’ is an important part of the repertoire of a saxophonist. The saxophone did not have the introduction that was originally intended by Adolphe Sax who intended the instrument as an orchestral instrument 1Sartorius, Michael, Authentic or Tradition :A discussion of the essential issues involved. http://www.baroquemusic.org/barperf.html 4 that would help to blend the woodwind and brass sections yet have a soloistic nature as well. Berlioz, a close friend and advocate of the saxophone stated: “an instrument whose tone colour is between that of the brass and the woodwinds. But it even reminds one, though more remotely, of the sound of the strings. I think its main advantage is the greatly varied beauty in its different possibilities of expression. At one time deeply quiet, at another full of emotion; dreamy, melancholic, sometimes with the hush of an echo.... I do not know of any instrument having this specific tone-quality, bordering on the limits of the audible."2 However the saxophone found its way into the French military and marching bands, taking over a large majority of the tuba lines, due to the fact that the saxophone (bass) was a much easier instrument to march with; the bass sax being the first sax in which Adolphe Sax invented. With this the saxophone lost its opportunity to become its creators dream and hence Adolph Sax decided to start the first saxophone class at the Paris Conservatoire. Along with having many works written for the saxophone, Sax began to transcribe for the saxophone in order to help promote the instrument in the classical genre. As so happens, the release of the saxophone in 1844 at the Paris Industrial Exhibition, was a fantastic success due to the first performance of Berlioz’s own arrangement of his Chant Sacre. ‘This first public performance of the saxophone occurred two years before Sax’s patent for the instrument. For the purpose of demonstrating these new instruments, Berlioz arranged a simple choral piece of his own that he had composed approximately fifteen years previously. The Chant sacré, in this rendering, was a sextet scored for three brasses and three woodwinds and included the inventor himself playing the B-flat bass saxophone.’3 “The process of transcription is not new to saxophonists, since the instrument was invented in the 1840s and it took some time for the solo repertoire to grow.”4 The first solo repertoire for the saxophone appeared early on in the saxophones life by composers such as Singelee, Demersseman, Chic and Savari, however there was 2 Racher, Sigurd, Once More – The Saxophone. The Etude (1942) 3 Horwood, Wally, Adolphe Sax: His Life and Legacy (Baldock, Herts.: Egon, 1983), pg52. 4 Oxford, ToddDMA dissertation ‘A transcription of Cesar Francks Sonata in A major.’ 5 still a shortage of performance pieces and works to expose the instrument to new more prolific composers, therefore performers did arrangements of popular classical music. The repertoire did not begin to grow until people such as Elisa Hall, Marcel Mule and Sigurd Racher, started having works written for them and commissioning composers for new pieces. It is interesting to note that transcribed music is not just a ready source of repertoire for the saxophonist but also an indespensible source for pedagogy. However it is a highly flamed debate, performing transcriptions especially baroque music on the saxophone, for baroque music largely consists of music for the church and the saxophone an instrument that was once described as an instrument of satan, with its connection to jazz the saxophone has been given a less then pure stigma and this can lead to much tension amongst public, performer and critic. 6 2. ‘Education’ (Allemande) ‘If the students of the saxophone do not play transcriptions of other music, there is no way that they will be able to develop their musical culture as performers. Music of Bach and Handel, all music of the eighteenth century provides rich examples of ornamentation, staccato, and legato style, various tempi, and the forms of that era… Without these kinds of transcriptions the saxophonist cannot develop his foundation in musical styles. Thus the use of transcription is musically proper and educationally indispensable.’5 In what ways is baroque music used in education for saxophonists? ‘Here in Australia, eighteenth century transcriptions are required at all levels of the AMEB saxophone exams.’6 5 Rousseau, Eugene, Marcel Mule, His Life and the Saxophone (Wisconsin, USA, Etoile Music Inc. pg. 91 6 Russoniello Nicholas, Attitudes and approaches to transcriptions for the Modern Saxophonist. B.MUS Hons Thesis, (Sydney University 2006) 7 Many study books and exercises have been transcribed for saxophone. Why? On the surface baroque pieces are simple to read and play, this makes this repertoire suitable for beginners and allows the students to perform high quality historic music at an early age. It is very important for a student of any musical instrument to have an understanding of music and its history and by allowing young students to perform this music from the very beginning of their musical journey the student will have a much more stable learning curve and understanding of the final goal of this endeavour, to become a performing musician. The repetitive nature of this music (fast movements) provides a good exercise in technique such as finger/tongue co-ordination and articulation. Slower movements provide a tool for improvisation, musicality, phrasing and breath control. Henk Van Twillert, famous for his interpretations of the J.S. Bach Cello suites on Baritone saxophone, is a strong believer in the study of baroque music for saxophonists. ‘It is the founding dictionary on all music that we play today, from the basic structure of harmony through to learning the direction of phrasing and emotions of music.’7, Henk Van Twillert therefore uses Baroque music as a basis for his education. This is not uncommon amongst the saxophone professors of today and the past. The look on Bachs music as a tool for education is not an uncommon and new concept. Before Pablo Casal’s discovery and performance of the Bach Cello Suites at the turn of the twentieth century the Cello suites were looked at as simply exercises for the cello. ‘Every where he went he had to overcome prejudice that the suites were dry exercises composed by a ‘wigstuffed with learning’ better suited for the practice studio than the concerty hall.’8 7 (Lesson with Prof. Henk Van Twillert, 11/10/2008 ESMAE) 8 Siblin E. ‘The Cello Suites’ (Secker 2009) pg74 8 We have come to the knowledge through many sources that when Bach’s Cello Suites for example, were played in the nineteenth century they were played mechanically, like a sewing machine. However it is difficult to find comparisons of nineteenth century performances with that of Casal’s ‘performance approach’ of these pieces because nobody recorded the suites before Casals. Walter Joachim, a cellist from the Montreal Symphony stated that in 1925 he had learned a few movements of the cello suites in no particular order, but the notion of playing an entire suite from beginning to end – a generation after Casals first performance was still virtually unheard of. “I learned it as exercises”…”Movement by movement, and never played them together. That’s what we learned when we were young. Who dared to play a whole suite alone?’9 Another area where baroque music is used is education at Tertiary level institutions. The structure of most harmony and analysis subjects studied in Universities and Conservatoriums throughout the world also use Bach’s harmonic language as the structure for their courses. This shows the importance and role in which Bach’s music has played on all western music since.

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